Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Having had the pleasure of playing the Suzi Arden 12-string a number of times back in the late eighties/early nineties it bears mentioning that the strings aren't strung in normal Rickenbacker mode but have the octave on top. Still was a great guitar to play!!!

Nice observation Don. Do you know if Suzi made the change after she received the instrument. Assuming not, I wonder if this means that George Harrison had the first Rickenbacker 12 string with the now standard Rickenbacker stringing (harmonic strings second on string pairs 3 to 6).

Peter: according to 'legend' the 'Suzi' guitar was strung in the conventional matter at the factory, with the octave string on top; George's Rickenbacker was the first to be strung in the Rickenbacker fashion, and this is why F.C. Hall said George's was the "....first RICKENBACKER twelve string....."

Suzi's guitar is still strung conventionally even today, according to the latest pics taken of it that are in the Japanese book 'I Love Rickenbacker 12-Strings'.

Lefty: Thanks for the reminder. Why not send along a closeup of the stringing so that we may post it here.

Peter, I have the book and the pic, but no way of bringing to the 'net I'm afraid......If someone else has the book and a digital camera, you'll know of the pic--a closeup of the nut showing the string arrangement....

My 12 string book just arrived from Japan today. Here's some pics showing the nut and bridge on the Suzi Arden 12.

Nut
Bridge comparison

Many thanks Kranz.

Thanks, Jim!! That is the pic I was thinking of...

Hey John!

Looks like that bridge is cranked down about as low as it will go.

It's pretty low, but it still has some air left between the bridge and the plate. It would be interesting to see a side wiew of the Suzi guitar to see the neck angle, and if there's any curl..